"The Tibetan Book of the Dead": A Biography

The Tibetan Book of the Dead A Biography The Tibetan Book of the Dead is the most famous Buddhist text in the West having sold than a million copies since it was first published in English in Carl Jung wrote a commentary on it Timothy

Title: "The Tibetan Book of the Dead": A Biography

Author: Donald S. Lopez Jr.

ISBN: 9780691134352

Page: 303

Format: Hardcover

The Tibetan Book of the Dead is the most famous Buddhist text in the West, having sold than a million copies since it was first published in English in 1927 Carl Jung wrote a commentary on it, Timothy Leary redesigned it as a guidebook for an acid trip, and the Beatles quoted Leary s version in their song Tomorrow Never Knows More recently, the book has been adoptThe Tibetan Book of the Dead is the most famous Buddhist text in the West, having sold than a million copies since it was first published in English in 1927 Carl Jung wrote a commentary on it, Timothy Leary redesigned it as a guidebook for an acid trip, and the Beatles quoted Leary s version in their song Tomorrow Never Knows More recently, the book has been adopted by the hospice movement, enshrined by Penguin Classics, and made into an audiobook read by Richard Gere Yet, as acclaimed writer and scholar of Buddhism Donald Lopez writes, The Tibetan Book of the Dead is not really Tibetan, it is not really a book, and it is not really about death In this compelling introduction and short history, Lopez tells the strange story of how a relatively obscure and malleable collection of Buddhist texts of uncertain origin came to be so revered and so misunderstood in the West.The central character in this story is Walter Evans Wentz 1878 1965 , an eccentric scholar and spiritual seeker from Trenton, New Jersey, who, despite not knowing the Tibetan language and never visiting the country, crafted and named The Tibetan Book of the Dead In fact, Lopez argues, Evans Wentz s book is much American than Tibetan, owing a greater debt to Theosophy and Madame Blavatsky than to the lamas of the Land of Snows Indeed, Lopez suggests that the book s perennial appeal stems not only from its origins in magical and mysterious Tibet, but also from the way Evans Wentz translated the text into the language of a very American spirituality.

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Donald S. Lopez Jr. immediately hits the "Tibetan Book of the Dead" out of the gate as not properly speaking a book, not really Tibetan, and not really about death. Now, it must be clear, that the several different collections of terma texts that up the various editions of the Nyingma text, the Bardo Todol, are Tibetan, but it isn't one text and there isn't even a set collection. Instead, the "Tibetan Book of the Dead" is largely a creation of theosophist and semi-professional orientalist, Walte [...]

This was a wonderful read, connected the dots between the Theosophists and The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Turns out The Tibetan Book of the Dead is not really Tibetan, not really a book, and not really about death. The central character, Evans-Wentz, was a spiritual seeker from New Jersey, didn't know the Tibetan language and never visited Tibet, though he crafted and named the book. He owed a greater debt to Theosophy and Madame Blavatsky. Remember that name from our class with Richard?This was [...]

Most Westerners are introduced to Tibet through one of two means, often connected: either through the Dalai Lama and the Free Tibet movement, or The Tibetan Book of the Dead (and the Dalai Lama's Tibetan Buddhism). Lopez's criticism (especially after JUST reading it, and being excited to read a historical commentary on the book) is harsh. He calls out the treasure-revealers of Tibet (gter ston) comparing them to the well-known hack and serial liar and child-molestor Joseph Smith. Because, well, [...]

It's not really Tibetan; it's not a "book" in any precise sense; and it's more concerned with rebirth than with death. To a large extent, the entity I encountered in the sixties under the title is the creation of Walter Evans-Wentz, an orientalist with deep interests in late 19th/early 20th century spiritualism, who more or less made it all up. That doesn't quite mean there's nothing to the philosophical/religious tradition that filtered through in such a bizarre form. There is a body of thought [...]

I bought this little gem at the Asian Culture Museum in Singapore thinking it might provide insight about Buddhism (I was drawn to the many Buddhist sculptures and scriptures on display there). While it met that challenge in a very brief overview, it provided so much more. The author's succinct and artfully written "biography" of The Tibetan Book of the Dead reveals the many layers of interpretation inextricably entangled with these (select) religious texts. The ultimate lesson is one of being w [...]

I loved this book. I have not read the Tibetan Book of the Dead; but, plan on reading it this fall. I was interested in getting a little background on it and this book delivered. It is written in a very clean prose making it easy to read and understand. It was surprising compelling as the author laid out the relationships between the various people who were instrumental in bringing the Tibetan Book of the Dead to the Western world and what motivated them. While Lopez is very opinionated about th [...]

This book was a short, fast read full of lots of fun history concerning the texts known as the Tibetan Book of the Dead. It does hit on some key points of Tibetan Buddhism and history, but it also discusses certain beliefs and activities of late 19th/early 20th century occultists. Enlightening and enjoyable.

I finished it and thought "hmm, interesting, but really, who cares?" It could have been done in 1/5 of the pages, without page after page after page of bewildering description of arcane and detailed rituals and beliefs from India and Tibet.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead is the most famous Buddhist text in the West, having sold more than a million copies since it was first published in English in 1927. Carl Jung wrote a commentary on it, Timothy Leary redesigned it as a guidebook for an acid trip, and the Beatles quoted Leary's version in their song "Tomorrow Never Knows." More recently, the book has been adopted by the hospice movement, enshrined by Penguin Classics, and made into an audiobook read by Richard Gere. Yet, as acclaimed [...]